Page 24 of A Christmas Proposition

He pulled back, blinking at her with lust-heavy lids. She touched her mouth and looked away, the heady spell broken.

She’d just kissed her brother’s best friend—a man who until today she might have jokingly described as her mortal enemy.

Worse, Emmett had kissed her back.

It was okay for this to be pretend—for their wedding to be an arrangement, but there was nothing black-and-white between them any longer. There was real attraction—as volatile as a live wire and as dangerous as a downed electric pole.

Whatever line they’d drawn by agreeing to marry, she’d stepped way, way over it.

He sobered quickly, recovering faster than she did. When he spoke, he echoed the words in her mind.

“That was a mistake.”